Saturday, April 28, 2012

It was nearly six years ago - in May 2006 - that we first saw the tulips in Washington Park in Albany. The kids looked like this:

However, as we set out to see them today - two weeks before the Tulip Festival, we wondered if we might already be too late to see them at their best. The spring has arrived so early this year and you have to feel for Jessica Morgan, who took over as the Albany city gardener during the last year.

We did see a little of this:

and some (presumably hastily) planted bedding plants in places, but there were also many many beautiful tulips in some spectacular arrangements.

Friday, April 27, 2012

I have eaten Dinosaur Bar-B-Que food before and enjoyed it, but today I actually ate at their restaurant in Troy for the first time. I'm not one to jump on the hype train apparently.

My Korean business guests were once again an excuse for a meal out and this time it was 'our' turn to show them a piece of American culture. The association of 'Korean' and 'barbecue' is certainly nothing new, but I was far from sure how they would respond to big chucks of smoked meat.

All eleven of us had a rather good meal.

We had thirteen of their hottest wings, two of their family-style meals, each with a whole chicken and a rack of ribs, and one with a pound of pork, one with pound of brisket, two links of the hot sausage (to give everyone a taste) and one portobello sandwich for the vegetarian. At the end, there was a bit of each of the family-style sides left (we had beans, coleslaw and fries) and a cornbread muffin. We successfully and happily ate everything else.

It was a really good way to experience the place - everyone was able to eat more of what they liked and, after a few days of eating out twice a day, no-one needed to eat more than they wanted. The service and food were both excellent and despite my mixed expectations, I was impressed and will, I dare say, be back.

Thursday, April 26, 2012

As we recover from our time of no-kitchen displacement, Exile #2 instituted "Tidy by Friday week". She pronounces it so that it rhymes (tidy bee fry dee). This kids are still British-enough to know that pudding really means dessert - something we (the adults at least) rarely have space for when we've eaten out.

So it is no great surprise that the kids have embraced this special occasion by tidying and keeping their rooms tidy. Exile #2 and I are putting the kitchen (back) together and then it's just tackling my floordrobe. - otherwise there will be big trouble if I cause the target to be missed!

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

We had Korean visitors at work today and they suggested that we go out for Korean food this evening. So it was that I finally got to visit Mingle.

We had a very nice evening. My choice of location caused some doubt when we arrived, but seemed to meet with everyone's satisfaction - including the Korean visitors who pointed out that the kimchi was slightly unusual because it was made of 무 (radish) rather than 배추 (cabbage). All agreed that it was good.

I had the bibimbap - which was almost good enough to cause me to finish it without taking a picture, but I remembered before all the tasty spicy rice-y goodness was gone.

Sunday, April 22, 2012

Today I found myself at the second (un-revamped) airport in two days - with no tickets or plans to fly.

Meanwhile, the rest of the family were at what seems to have been a fairly spectacular party for two of Exile #3's friends. She was very excited to show off her airbrushed 'tattoo' (photographed at church by Tammy) and her cartoon portrait (photographed badly by me at home):

Saturday, April 21, 2012

I started the day with a run that, despite being short and relatively slow, completely wiped me out. It became clear that I was not altogether healthy. We spent an hour or so working on the kitchen (somewhat slowly in my case) before an outing (in the sunshine) to pick up a rental car at the airport (for me to drive some business visitors around in) and for the girls to spend some money at the mall.

At lunchtime I skipped food in favour of sleep.

This afternoon and evening, with the rain falling, we made some good progress on the dwindling number of jobs that we need to do before the plumber and the electrician come to get the kitchen up and running again.

The kids entertained themselves - Exile #4 was the only one to brave the rain, but she did look very much the part in her matching coat and boots, as Exile #2 noticed (and snapped this).

Friday, April 20, 2012

Our sink arrived today (actually it was the second time it had arrived, but it was dent-free this time).

We're definitely approaching the end of the project now, but with the end of the project come a lot of out-of-comfort-zone jobs. For example, this evening I had to cut a big hole in the wood countertop that Exile #2 has been lovingly finishing over the last week or two.

I also had to cut a rebate or rabbet. Apparently, both British and American versions of the word come from the French rabbat, so I suppose we'll put this on the list of things we agree on, "One of those 'a's has to go!"

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

I had the day off work today. Surprisingly, it was not primarily related to the kitchen project - although we did put these shelves up and talk to a plumber.

The main task was to complete (i.e. start and finish) my page for this year's yearbook. I had a ten minute visit to Exile #4's class to take a couple of extra pictures and then settled down to do the page design. I don't feel that it's my greatest strength by any means, but the result was OK I hope.

So now, it's back to concentrating on the kitchen for a few days and then I have a reverse business-trip to occupy me for a week or so (but more on that later I suspect).

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

The journey back from the Washington D.C. area can hardly be referred to as cross-country, but our drive to the airport seemed to be according to the rental car GPS unit, which, along with a fair proportion of drivers - judging by the emptiness, was unaware of the existence of the road we were on.

Sunday, April 15, 2012

Today I ran my first race since the New Year's Day half-marathon. It was in Delmar and the race is called the Delmar Dash - a five mile race starting and finishing at the Bethlehem Central Middle School. The race was through a suburban residential area and there were plenty of people sitting and standing outside their houses on a warm Sunday morning to cheer the runners on.

I had a time I wanted to achieve based on both my training and my target marathon time (I'm signed up to run one in October) converted thanks to McMillan Running. I managed to get in under both target times - so I'm pretty happy about that.

Saturday, April 14, 2012

The title is a joke - a play on the popular feature at renowned local blog derryX and the general popularity of E5N1's adventures with the readers of this blog.

Most of the day was spent on kitchen work - hanging wall cabinets and waterproofing butcher's block countertops.

At lunchtime we fled the scene to grab some fast food. At Wendy's E5N1 surprised us by shunning all the kid's meal options and all the fries, nuggets and burgers in favour of an apple and pecan salad. Yes really. He washed it down with some all-natural lemonade. The only nod to his preschool taste was that instead of using the salad dressing, he had some barbecue sauce on the side to dip the pieces of chicken in.

Thursday, April 12, 2012

Both the girls are doing pretty well in 'math' at school at the moment. I'm often looking for ways to give them something to calculate. The other day we estimated the speed of light using the fact that light takes about 8 minutes to get here from the sun (which I remembered) and that the distance is 93 million miles (which we know thanks to TMBG).

Today, however, it was Exile #4 who started things by saying at dinner time how easy it was to add 1+2+3, "if you know your math facts!"

Exile #2 asked, "What about 1+2+3+4?", the girls both started thinking...

About the Exile

The Exile began on January 10th 2007 (Day 0) when the_exile (that's me) accompanied by Exile #2 and our two daughters (Exile #3 and Exile #4) moved from the UK to New York State in the USA. Since arriving we have had a son known as Exile #5/Native #1 (or E5N1) - dual nationality is a wonderful if cumbersome thing.

January 11th 2008 was Day 1 + 1 year - and I decided on the shorthand 'Day 1.001'.

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Thank you for reading

I hope you enjoy reading these observations and stories from our everyday life.

For those who know us, it's nice to know that you are keeping up with what we are up to, forgive the absence of personal information and names etc. and I'm sorry that you have to read this to get our news.

For those we don't know personally, welcome! I hope you find something to amuse or inspire, some insight into the process of settling in having moved abroad, or whatever it is you came looking for.

To all: feel free to leave a comment, it's nice for me to know you're out there.